Tank ball



7 y 1943 J. J. OHARE 2,319,256

TANK BALL Filed March 28, 1942 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented May 18, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TANK BALL John J. OHare, Ri'dgefield, Conn, assignor to American Rubber Products Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application March 28, 1942, Serial No. 436,675

Claims.

This invention relates to tank balls in general and more especially to tank balls having alower yieldable valve portion and an upper rigid part or upper part that it rigid as compared to the lower yieldable valve portion.

Amongthe objects of the present invention, it is aimed to provide an improved tank ball having a lower yieldable or rubber valve portion, and an upper conical double shell portion for engaging a flange portion of the lower rubber portion to reinforce the same and to aid in positioning or maintaining the rubber valve portion in proper inflated position to form an effective valve seat and at the same time also form a bearing for the conventional connecting rod.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide an improved tank ball a lower resilient or rubber valve portion and an upper conical double shell portion composed of a plastic material such as "Tennitaf Plastacele, Lucite, Bakelite, or the like, in which the spud is formed as an integral part of the inner shell.

These and other features, capabilities and advantages of thepresent. invention will appear from the subjoi ned detail description of one specific. embodiment. thereof. illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a. transverse section of an assembled tank. ball made according tov the present invention; and

Fig. 2. is anexploded view of the several elements of the tank ball before being assembled with the lower yieldable or rubber valve portion partly in section..

portion 4 flaring upwardly and inwardly from the equator line 2.

The flange 4, preferably, has a greater wall thickness, as shown, than the wall thickness of the semi-spherical portion 5-. The outer face of the flange 4' is preferably a smooth conical surface except when raised lettering is molded on the lower zone thereof adjacent the equator line 2, such as the lettering 6. The inner face of the flange 4, preferably terminates in a bead I at the free edge: thereof, which bead l, in the present instance, extends beyond the: free annular edge 8 toform the shoulder 9.

The upper portionv of the tank ball, inv the present instance, consists mainly of the inner shell Ill and the outer shell II. The inner shell Ill has formed integral therewith the spud or cylindrical extension I2, which has heretofore always been made independently and separatelyfrom the shell Ill. The shell I0, lin the present instance, has a conical wall portion [3 having an inwardly extending. annular bead I4 spaced from the free outer edge I5 of the shell 10' as shown. The wall. portion. I3 terminates in the flat imperforate wall portion Hi from which the cylindrical extension l'2 extends outwardly; The head It is molded during the formation of the shell l0, forming. an annular groove or depression on the outer face thereof for receiving the enlargement or bead 1 of the rubber flange 4.

For tank ball sizes ranging from 2%," to 3", the wall portion l3 and. flat top l6 need not exceed .035 to .040 of. an inch in thickness when the shell [3 is composed of a plastic, such as Termite, Plastacele, Lucite or Bakelite, in. which. case, however, the, thickness of the wall of the extension l2. should preferably be twice as thick, as shown,

The. extension [2, in. the present instance, is provided with an outer lefthand thread. and an inner rig-hthandv thread, the outer lefthand thread being provided to screw threadedly receive the collar [1, and the inner righthand thread being provided to receive the conventional connecting rod H3. The collar i1 is also preferably composed of a plastic material, butif it is to be. threaded and cutby an automatic screw machine, it has been found desirable to make itof Marblette. instead of Tennite or the like since it has been fotmd that Marblette will better Withstand the heat. generated when cutting these collars by an automatic screw machine. The conventional connecting rod l8, on the other hand, is preferably composed of metal in accordance with the conventional practice. The conical wall portion I3. of the inner shell [0 and extension I2 preferably have afll-let l 12 graduating from thee'Xtensiorr l2 into the upper face of the" flat-imperforate wall portion 16 to strengthen the angle between the extension 12 and the Wall portion it. These wall portions l3 and i6- and extension I2 integral with one another of the inner shell l0 are molded inonev piece, accord ing to the present invention, from a plastic material such as Tennite, Plastacele, Lucite, Bakelite, and the like.

The outer shell I l, similarly, is preferably composed of a plastic material, such as. Tennite,

1 Pl'astacele, Lucite, Bakelite, or the like, and

in shape has a conical wall I!) and a flat top 20 provided with a central opening 2| to enable the cylindrical extension I2 to pass therethrough as shown in Fig. l. The thickness of the walls I9 and 20 is also preferably not more than .035 to .040 of an inch in thickness if intended for a tank ball ranging in size between 2 and 3".

Serving as a water-tight and air-tight stufiing and placed, in the present instance, around the cylindrical extension I2 above the flat top 20 of the upper shell I I, there is provided a washer 22 composed of leather, rubber or the like. When assembled, as shown in Fig. l, the outer free edges of the shells I and II will clamp or grip the flange 4, the outer free edge of the outer shell II terminating clear of 'the raised lettering elements 6 and the bead I4 of the inner shell engaging the bead I of the flange 4. Furthermore, the washer 22 will rest on the flat top 20 of the outer shell II around the extension I2 and be pressed against such flat top 20 in intimate engagement with the extension l2 by the collar or nut IT. The connecting rod I 8, as shown in Fig. 1, will of course be screw threadedly connected to the inner righthand thread of the extension I2. The provision of the lefthand thread for the collar I1 and of the righthand thread for the connecting rod I8 is, of course, in order to prevent loosening the collar I! when screwing the connecting rod I8 into place. It is obvious, however, that this particuluar inner and outer thread relationship of the extension I2 is not essential to the present invention and is merely disclosed as part of an embodiment of the invention. From the foregoing, it will be seen that the shell elements II] and II, due to the imperforate character of the inner shell I0, throughout its conical wall I3 and flat top I6 and the yieldable connection between the outer edges of the shells I0 and II afforded by the yieldable or rubber constituency of the flange 4 and the'yieldable connection between the top 20 of the shell II and nut or collar I'I afforded by the yieldable washer 22, will form a water tight and air tight dome to supplement the water tight and air tight character of the yieldable ball portion I, thereby to insure a pneumatic valve element for the valve seat, not shown, of the tank with which this tank ball is used.

The shell II and the shell I0, including the extension I2 may also be composed of hard rubber or the like without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Furthermore, the angle portion between the conical wall I3 and the flat wall I6 of the shell I0 and the angle portion between the conical wall l9 and the fiat wall 20 of the shell II are slightly thickened, as shown, similar to the fillet II2, to serve as reinforcements for the portions of the shells I0 and II where they are subjected to the greatest strains and stresses and where they'would otherwise be weakest.

The product Marblette is a cast phenolic plastic manufactured by The Marblette C0r poration of Long Island City, N. Y.; the plastic products Plastacele and Lucite are manufactured by E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company of Wilmington, Delaware; the plastic product Tennite is manufactured by the Tennessee Eastman Corporation of Kingsport, Tennessee; and the plastic product Bakelite is manufactured by the Bakelite Corporation of New York, New York.

.It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made to the details of construction without departing from the general spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

I. The combination of a yieldable hollow valve member having a conical flange extending radially inward from one end thereof, two conical plastic, imperforate shell members nested into one another with the outer zones thereof gripping said flange in place, the inner shell having a flat top with a chambered cylindrical extension extending outwardly therefrom and integral therewith, the extension being externally and internally threaded, the outer shell having a flat top with an opening therein to receive said cylindrical extension, at yieldable washer mounted on said cylindrical extension and disposed on the top of said outer shell, and a collar screw threadedly engaging the said cylindrical extension and washer and operative to draw said shells toward one another and to grip said flange between them, the internal thread of said extension being provided screw threadedly to receive a connecting rod.

2. The combination of a rubber hollow valve member having a conical flange extending radially inward from one end thereof, two conical plastic imperforate shell members nested into one another with the outer zones gripping said flange in place, the inner shell having aflat top with a chambered cylindrical extension extending outwardly therefrom and integral therewith, the extension being externally and internally threaded, the outer shell having a flat top with an opening therein to receive said cylindrical extension, and a collar screw threadedly engaging the said cylindrical extension and operative to draw said shells toward one another and to grip said flange between them, the thickness of said shell members not exceeding .040 inch and the wall thickness of said extension not exceeding twice the thickness of said shell members.

3. The combination of a rubber hollow valve member having a conical flange extending radially inward from one end thereof, two conical plastic shell members nested into one another with the outer zones thereof gripping said flange in place, the inner shell having a flat top with a chambered cylindrical extension extending outwardly therefrom and integral therewith, the extension being externally and internally threaded, the outer shell having a flat top with an opening therein to receive said cylindrical extension, a leather washer mounted on said cylindrical extension and disposed on the top of said outer shell, and a plastic collar screw threadedly engaging said cylindrical extension and washer and operative to draw said shells toward one another and to grip said flange between them, the internal thread of said extension being provided screw threadedly to receive a connecting rod and the thickness of said shell members not exceeding .040 inch and the wall thickness of said extension not exceeding twice the thickness of said shell members.

' 4. The combination of a yieldable hollow semispherical rubber valve member having a conical flange extending radially thereof, two "conical plastic shell members nested into one another with the outer zones thereof gripping said flange in place, the inner shell having a flat top with a chambered cylindrical extension extending outwardly therefrom, said cylindrical extension having an inner righthand thread and an outer lefthand thread, a washer mounted on said cylindrical extension and disposed on the top of said outer shell, a collar screw threadedly engaging the lefthand thread of said cylindrical extension and said washer and operative to draw said shells toward one another and to grip said flange between them, and a connecting rod screw threadedly engaging the righthand thread of said cylindrical extension, the internal thread one another with the outer zones thereof gripping said flange in place, the inner shell having an annular groove to receive the bead on the inner face of said flange and a flat top with a chambered cylindrical extension extending outwardly therefrom and integral therewith, the extension being externally and internally threaded, the outer shell having a flat top with an opening therein to receive said cylindrical extension, and a collar screw threadedly engaging said cylindrical extension and operative to draw said shells toward one another and to grip said flange between them, the internal thread of said extension being provided screw threadedly to receive a connecting rod and the thickness of said shell members not exceeding .040 inch and the wall thickness of said extension not exceeding twice the thickness of said shell members.

' JOHN J. OHARE. 

